On the evening of Thursday, January 23, 2025, 14 community supporters attended our Annual General Meeting at the De Winton Hall. The meeting was short and sweet with time for coffee, treats, and catch-up chats after the formal meeting was over.
Some of the highlights over the past year were:
The winding down of the DCA Preschool and the beginning of Birchwood at the DCA Hall. Birchwood is a Reggio-inspired Preschool which offers expanded hours of operation and additional programming such as summer camps compared to the past. Next year, Birchwood hopes to plan a collaborative holiday community event with the DCA.
Our Treasurer indicated DCA made a profit for 2024. However, DCA anticipates costly extraordinary repairs to the building will be required this year.
The DCA received $70,000 in December 2024 from a casino fundraiser held in September 2024. The casino fundraiser is of great importance for the DCA’s cash flow, and we would be hard pressed to raise this amount of funding by any other means. Our next casino fundraiser will be held in four years.
DCA continues to host several events and activities this year. Examples are the Canada Day Breakfast, Paint and Sip, Members Night Western Dance, Family Halloween Party, Christmas Craft Fair, Dog Scent Classes, and Social Nights.
We also continue to offer free to members: Bridge, Stretching/Yoga, Coffee Club, Quilting, and De Winton Pony Club.
The casino fundraiser and rentals are our main sources of income. These funds allow us to maintain the hall and provide activities and events for members.
Amanda left us at the end of 2024 and Matt, our new Hall Manager, started in December. He is a great addition to the DCA and comes with many skills that will be very beneficial to us.
We are badly in need of volunteers to organize events such as the Western Dance, Family Halloween Party, and Canada Day Breakfast. We are a volunteer organization. Without support, we can’t run these events!
For those wishing to nominate a member for their long-term outstanding contributions to the community and our Turnbull Award, please contact our Facility Manager at 403-938-2525 or [email protected].
Looking Forward in 2025, DCA is focusing on:
• Initiating a move of financial institutions.
• Website re-development.
• Increasing focus on insurance coverage and risk management.
• Dealing with big ticket ongoing items that must be addressed this year; our roof and furnaces (close to 30 years old) and alarm monitoring.
• Continued improvements to policies, practices, and governance of DCA.
• Partnership with the Davisburg Community Association in discussing the land jointly owned by the two associations and continued work with the Orphan Well Association.
A special thanks to all of our volunteers, we are not a community without your support!
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